EXPLANATION TEXT

An explanation text tells your audience how something works or why something happens.

Explanations detail and logically describe the stages in a process, such as the water cycle, or how a
steam engine works.  Other examples could be how a law is made, or why we blink when we sneeze.

There are four types of explanations.

 Sequential – These detail the stages in an event eg: how a caterpillar turns into a moth.

 Causal - Details what causes the change from one stage to the next ie: How a president is
elected.

 Theoretical - Details the possible phenomena behind a natural or created process that is not
fully understood. eg What caused the Nazi's to lose World War II.

 Factorial and consequential explanations explain effects and outcomes of processes. They
are more commonly used in upper primary and secondary contexts. For example:

o Scientific– eg Explain the causes of climate change (Factorial)

o Historical– eg Explain the causes of World War 2 (Factorial)

“Explanation texts are frequently incorporated into other texts, used to provide information which
answers questions of interest on that topic”

— literacyideas.com

DON'T GET CONFUSED BETWEEN EXPLANATION TEXTS AND PROCEDURAL TEXTS.

An explanation text is similar to a procedural text, and these can often be confused, however an
explanation text explains the how and why behind a process  such as  

 What causes a Tsunami?

 Why are our rain forests disappearing?

 The process of making aluminum.

A procedural text is generally instructs how to make or do something such as recipe.  Although they
appear similar they are very different when compared side by side.

EXPLORING THE STRUCTURE AND FEATURES OF EXPLANATION TEXTS

 GENERIC STRUCTURE
 TITLES

Which identify the topic of your explanation. You may pose this as a question at the beginning with
how? or why?
  STRONG OPENING STATEMENT

Identifying the process to be explained. Emphasize the process rather than the particular thing
involved in the process.

 SEQUENCING

Use sequential paragraphs or statements describing how or why something happens. Show
connections such as cause and effect or temporal sequence.

 WRAPPING IT UP

A strong concluding paragraph or sentence that draws everything together will add more validity to
your explanation.

VISUALS

Use graphic organizers, labelled diagrams and even videos you are constructing a digital text
to illustrate your understanding.

 LANGUAGE FEATURES
 GENERALIZE

Talk about your topics in groups or as a collective rather than as individuals.

 CONNECTIVE LANGUAGE

Use language which link cause and effect.

 GET TECHNICAL & DETAILED

Use technical language and terms specific to your subject. Use technical descriptions to crate
richer meaning.

 TENSE AND VOICE

Explanations are written in the passive voice and in timeless present tense.

EXAMPLE of Explanation Text

A rainbow

A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of

light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a
multicoloured arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite
the sun.
Rainbows can be full circles; however, the average observer sees only an arc formed by illuminated
droplets above the ground, and centred on a line from the sun to the observer’s eye.

In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow
is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back
of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.

In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colors
reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc.

Practice

A. Read the passage below.

Where does Rain come from?
Rain always comes from clouds. But where do clouds come from? How does all that
water get into the sky?
Think about your bathroom. There is hot water in yout bath. Steam goes up from the
hot water. The steam makes small clouds in the bathroom. These warm clouds meet the
cold walls and windows, and then we see small drops of water on the walls and windows.
The world is like your bathroom. The water in the oceans is warm when the sun shines on it .
some of this water goes up into the sky and makes clouds. The wind carries the clouds for
hundreds of kilometers. Then the clouds meet cold air in the sky, and we see drops of water.
The drops of water are rain.
The rain falls and runs into rivers. Rivers run into oceans. And the water from oceans
makes clouds and more rain. So water is always moving from oceans to clouds to rain to
rivers to oceans. So the rain on yourhead was on the heads before! The water in your garden
was in other gardens in other countries.

B. Decide whether each of the statements is true or false based on the text above.
1. Rain doesn’t always comes from clouds.=False(Rain always comes from clouds)
2. Steam rises from the hot water.=True
3. The water in the ocean is warm when the sun shines on it.=True
4. Some of the water goes down into the sky and makes clouds.=False(The water goes up
not goes down)
5. The rain falls and runs into rivers. Rivers runs into oceans.=True

C. Explain how the water cycle works. First, copy this chart and then all it in with events
happening in the water cycle.

The wind carries the clouds for

The water in the oceans is hundreds of kilometers. Then the
warm when the sun shines on clouds meet cold air in the sky, and
it . some of this water goes up we see drops of water. The drops of
into the sky and makes clouds water are rain.

And the water from The rain falls and runs

oceans makes clouds into rivers. Rivers run
and more rain into oceans